A great start to one of my favorite series. I love military sci fi space opera. This one delivers with a light touch. The writing and plotting are clear and the characters while familiar are a little something different. Daniel with his sort of endearing womanizing and his extra pound or two and Adele which her tack sharp mind and her inability to really relate emotionally to the world around her. ( )

WITH THE LIGHTNINGS begins a space opera series. Lieutenant Daniel Leary of the Republic of Cinnabar Navy has been posted to Kostroma. He has quarreled with his politically powerful father which means that he has no money and no influence. But he has more than his share of dreams and ambitions.

Adele Mundy is a librarian and about the only survivor of the Mundys of Chatsworth who ran afoul of those in political power on Cinnabar and were murdered. Daniel Leary's father was one of those in power when the purge happened. Adele was off planet in school when the purge happened leaving her broke and subject to the kindness of strangers. She has recently taken a job on Kostroma to organize the head of government's library.

Kostroma is in a difficult position as it tries to remain independent from both the Republic of Cinnabar and the Alliance of Free Stars. The internal politics on Kostroma is also in flux with frequent political coups changing who's in charge frequently.

Daniel and Adele find themselves in the middle of one of those coups, this one engineered by the Alliance. They team up to survive and defeat the Alliance's plans.

This was excellent space opera. The worldbuilding was well done with interesting politics adding frequent twists to the plot. The characters were well-developed people. The action was fast-paced and frequent ranging from being shipwrecked on a deserted island to rescuing other RCN people from the palace to pitched space battles.

I really enjoyed the characters and the world that was created in this story and look forward to reading more episodes. ( )

Takes a while to get going but for when it does, it really takes off. I love the space opera setting of the Master and Commander series. Sigh.. looks like Audible will be drained faster than usual this go around! ( )

4 1/2 stars, a really solid adventure/military sci-fi ( )

This is a pretty dumb book, but I nevertheless really enjoyed it. Read it in Deep Creek on vacation (mainly) - had seen the series recommended a few years ago and I remember starting it and then quickly bailing out.

Then Jody Bottum wrote about the series a few months ago, inspiring me to revisit. Jody said it was "better than it needs to be" and I think I can agree with that.

It's funny how much I still just want to enjoy my reading. I should learn to be a little easier on myself. ( )